Grapefruit, cheddar, and bacon salad with honey vinaigrette

Okay, here's the order of business: let's talk about the new blog look, and then about the salad.

First of all, the new look of the blog. Not my doing at all. My gorgeous and incredibly talented and creative friend, Jennifer, sent me an email a few days ago asking if she could help to make my blog pretty (everything she touches becomes more beautiful, and I'm not just saying that because she made my blog look like this) and here was my exact response: "Ummm... yes! Are you kidding? YES! That would be AMAZING!"

And so, we played a couple rounds of Pimp My Blog (does anyone get that reference?) and here we are. I may have shed a tear when I saw it.

So, next subject: the salad. I was meal planning while eating a grapefruit, and I suddenly wanted to have my grapefruit on a bed of lettuce, with a drizzle of honey to combat the tartness. Cheese was an obvious addition, but the dish quickly forming in my mind was still lacking something. I really hesitated on the bacon, as I feel it has been a bit over-used to spice up any old dish -"Chicken noodle soup... with bacon!" "Beans and rice...with bacon!" "Vanilla ice cream... with bacon!" -it just gets old. But when I made this salad, I was so glad I added the bacon. The smokiness perfectly balances the other flavors.

Oh, by the way, I found a use for the leftover ravioli filling from this recipe. I boiled some red potatoes, then mashed them with a little broth and added the filling. I also added green onions. And maybe also a little bacon.

Grapefruit, cheddar, and bacon salad with honey vinaigrette
serves two as a main dish
1/4 cup red onion, sliced
2 tbsp honey (or more if desired)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
sploosh red wine (optional)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 freshly ground pepper
2 slices bacon (I used turkey bacon)
6 cups romaine or red leaf lettuce
1/2 cup of cubed sharp cheddar cheese
1 grapefruit, peeled, sectioned, and pulled into bite-sized pieces

Place onion in a small bowl. Pour honey, olive oil, vinegar, and red wine if desired over the onions, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Stir together and set aside for at least a half hour.

Meanwhile, cook bacon until crispy and assemble other ingredients. Crumble bacon once cooled. Split lettuce between two plates, and top each with half the bacon crumbles, cheese cubes, and grapefruit pieces. Top salad with some red onion slices, then whisk vinaigrette welling before pouring a couple tbsp of dressing over top of the salad. Enjoy.